“To be a minister you only need to be appointed,” former socialist minister Jordi Sevilla said in La Vanguardia. That they name you and that, beforehand, the President of the Government calls you by phone or summons you to his office. Some ministers and leaders of the PSOE, jokingly and truthfully, assured yesterday that they do not stray too far from the phone, in case the expected call occurs. Although others think that “the dance” could really start today.
Once Pedro Sánchez won his new investiture as President of the Government yesterday at noon, and was able to enjoy a brief break of joy with his team and his family - his wife, Begoña Gómez, once again attended the plenary session of Congress -, the leader of the PSOE will promise the position this morning before the King in Zarzuela.
But what is pressing, now, is the formation of the new progressive coalition government, this time between the PSOE and Sumar. On the one hand, Sánchez must definitively specify with the leader of Sumar, the until now second vice president Yolanda Díaz, the portfolios that the minority partner of the coalition will occupy, and who will direct them. On the other hand, he will complete the structure of the new executive with the ministries that will remain in the hands of the socialists.
As always on these occasions, in the Moncloa they assure that Sánchez does not give up anything, and they allege that he is very jealous of this power that is exclusively attributed to the president. “There are no clues,” they warn. And they remember that, as often happens, those who speak do not know, because those who really know – who would hardly be his closest collaborators – remain rigorously silent.
Although in the Moncloa and the PSOE everything is a pool of ministers, with greater or lesser foundations, until Sánchez confirms the names it is nothing more than conjecture. Or bets of those looking for a place in the sun. “No one really knows anything,” they insisted in the Moncloa, at the end of the investiture plenary session.
Yes, there are at least two indications that many socialist leaders agree on about the new government. On the one hand, it will have to be an impregnable and very rocky cabinet, in the face of the all-out offensive that it will have to face from the right wing on a war footing from day one, while at the same time being very flexible in the face of the permanent negotiation to which will be subjected to be able to approve each initiative.
And not only within the government coalition between the PSOE and Sumar – which from the start appears less conflictive than the previous one of the socialists with Unidas Podemos – but above all with some essential parliamentary allies, but so suspicious and at odds with each other. yes, like Junts and Esquerra, or the PNV and EH Bildu. Furthermore, with its regional elections already on the horizon.
“Very political,” some socialist leaders summarize, regarding the main characteristic that the new government will have.
There is also agreement in the PSOE that the new executive will have to be smaller than the current one. In fact, the government that is now saying goodbye was oversized, as they admitted then, due to the need to fit all the pieces of the coalition with Unidas Podemos, which forced the separation of portfolios and departments that could now be merged again into a more compact government. and cash.
Among the unknowns yet to be resolved is whether Sánchez will keep Nadia Calviño at the head of the economic vice presidency, or will opt for her replacement due to her candidacy to preside over the European Investment Bank (EIB). Or if the PSC will have two ministers, like now, or only one. In the PSOE they only dare to take as certain the continuity in the Government of the ministers Félix Bolaños, María José Montero or the vice president Teresa Ribera. Óscar López and Antonio Hernando also appear in the pools, now in the hard core of Moncloa. And former regional presidents like Ximo Puig or Guillermo Fernández Vara.
But it's all speculation, for now. “The president has not given clues or spoken to anyone,” they said last night.
Some of the socialist leaders who stand out in the presidential pools, although they also claim not to have any news yet - which is why they do not separate themselves from the mobile phone -, consider that once this morning Sánchez promises the position in Zarzuela, this afternoon The appointment of new ministers could now be “triggered.”
Sánchez's appearance at the Moncloa to announce the composition of the new Executive could be tomorrow or, if he needs more time to fit all the pieces of the puzzle, delayed until Sunday or Monday. The forecast, in any case, is that next Tuesday the new Council of Ministers will meet, once its members have taken office.
The only thing that no one doubts is that Sánchez, and all his ministers, will face a legislature with an uncertain future... but with maximum political tension.
